Police seek help finding fire suspects

GLOVERSVILLE — City police are continuing to investigate the “suspicious” Feb. 10 fire at the JBF Industries and seek the public’s help in identifying four subjects observed leaving the scene in surveillance footage.

Fire broke out at the abandoned former JBF Industries at 41 W. 11th Ave. around 7:30 a.m. Feb. 10. City firefighters, assisted by other area fire units, spent most of the day getting the fire under control. No one was hurt fighting the blaze.

The Gloversville Police Department, in conjunction with the Gloversville Fire Department, the Fulton County Office of Emergency Management, and the state Office of Fire Prevention and Control, have been investigating what they called a “suspicious” fire that started sometime in the early morning hours on Feb. 10.

Arson has not been ruled out as a probable cause.

Physical evidence was collected from the scene and sent to the New York State Police Forensic Laboratory for processing. Debris from the huge fire at the old tannery is considerable and a course of action for demolition is currently under consideration. The property sits across from part of the Kingsborough Elementary School property.

City detectives have obtained surveillance footage from that morning prior to the fire starting that shows three subjects probably in their late teens or early twenties walking towards the JBF Industries mill around 3 a.m. The same three subjects were later shown in the footage leaving the area around 5 a.m. now joined by a fourth subject.

Police released still images from the surveillance footage Wednesday.

Police said one subject in the footage appears to be wearing a red vest or coat with black sleeves. Another subject, possibly female, was described by police as wearing a blue and black pea coat.

Gloversville detectives are currently seeking any and all information from the public regarding the fire, including suspicious activities witnessed on those dates, as well as any video from the surrounding areas that may benefit the investigation.

If you have any information relating to the fire or the individuals pictured in the surveillance footage, you are asked to contact the Gloversville Police Department Detective Division at (518) 773-4513.